Stolen truck slams into car, overturns onto playground in Southwest Philly: police

Stolen pickup slams into car, flips onto Mitchell Elementary playground in Philadelphia

A stolen pickup truck crashed into a playground at Mitchell Elementary School in Southwest Philadelphia, narrowly missing students and staff.

PHILADELPHIA - Police say a stolen truck crashed into a car on South 55th Street just after 2:00 p.m. Tuesday, sending one person to the hospital and ending with the truck on its side at a playground.

What we know:

Surveillance video captured the moment a truck slammed into a car on South 55th Street just after 2:00 p.m. Tuesday, according to police.

Moments before stolen truck crashes onto school playground in Southwest Philly

Surveillance video captures the moment a truck crashed causing a chain of events and overturned onto a school playground in Southwest Philadelphia Tuesday afternoon.

Police say the truck was stolen, and the person inside is now in custody. 

One person who was in another car was taken to the hospital, police said. 

The truck came to rest on its side at a playground, but officials confirmed that no students or teachers were injured. 

Police are continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding the crash and the events leading up to it.

Dig deeper:

Police were on the scene at Mitchell Elementary School after a white truck plowed through a protective fence and overturned on the playground.

The truck took out part of the playground structure and flipped on its side.

Sources say children at the school were just heading inside when the accident occurred.

What they're saying:

"This is a school zone where you jeopardize a whole bunch of kids — it’s ridiculous," said parent Sade Williams. "And then to find out it was a stolen car makes it even worse."

The chaos was especially close for school crossing guard Jamele Ransom, who was just steps away when the crash happened.

"A catastrophe — he ran the light," Ransom said. "I was luckily under the tree getting some shade, but I seen it. If you zoom in, I ran that way toward the spinning car. When you look at that footage, you see me bob and weave — it was like the Matrix, moving so slow."

Parents say the timing is the only reason this wasn’t a tragedy.

"My daughter came out — she looked nervous and scared and confused," Williams said. "If that would’ve happened around 1 or 12:45, my child and a bunch of other kids would’ve been in their schoolyard. I’m very grateful nobody got hurt, but that’s a scary predicament."

Crews spent hours at the scene boarding up the damaged fence and taping off the playground. The truck was eventually towed away.

"It was a gut punch," said Daveon Gilbert. "All I could think about was — are the kids okay?"

What we don't know:

Police have not released the identity of the person in custody or the condition of the person taken to the hospital. 

Details about how the truck was stolen and the events leading up to the crash have not been provided.